Each day we bring you one stunning little glimpse of history in the form of a historical photograph. Enjoy!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Meat Market

Today's picture is from the 1920's and shows what looks like a Meat Market in the District Grocery Store. I will have to say that this does not look much different than the grocery stores I remember growing up in the 60's. Note the simple signage and functional layout.

This is another one of my gripes about modern grocery stores. Did you notice a couple of years ago how the "self" checkouts started popping up. At first it was just one or two, for the people that wanted to do the cashiers job for them. Now, I notice that more and more of the checkout lanes are self checkout. I notice that fewer and fewer have a traditional cashier, and the lines are getting longer in the cashier checkout lanes, while the self checkout lanes sit idle. You see, they are trying to "train" us. Each year, it will take longer and longer, and be more and more painful to continue to use the lane with the live person. Finally, we will give up waiting in the one lane with a live cashier and will cave in, and start checking ourselves out. Then, their training program of us will be complete. Again, I hate the blatant manipulation. Perhaps we should resist with passive aggressive behaviors. How about this . . . use the self checkout lane, but don't be real easy on the equipment . . . put that big jar of pickles down on that little glass scanner window like you mean it.

17 comments:

Self checkouts are ridiculous. My friend works as a cashier and they are more of a hassle and require a cashier to basically stand guard to help people that screw up the self checkout.

That being said I myself like them only because I've worked as a cashier before and I'm not technologically illiterate, lol. And they are useful for days when you wake up and decide you do not want to be around other human beans. :p

I love the self checkout when I only have a small amount of shopping. We have great conversations , the machine and I. It keeps telling me it did not expect me to buy such and such a product by exclaiming in a load voice "Unexpected item in bagging area". I never get this kind of feedback from the humans who only seem to be trained to wish me a nice day and smile.

Sorry PJM, I do like to use the self check outs. I know the first few time it was weird, but after that I can buzz right through my cart load faster. The only time I don't use them is when I'm parked at the far door, but it is almost worth the walk to be able to go through without standing in a line.

My wife likes the self checkout machines on occasion. I hate them. They hardly ever work right and it's hardly ever the user's fault, at least at the WM in our area. I use to be a checker in a WM when I was a much younger man. I switched over to law enforcement so that I could have a job where I could deal with stupid people in a much more satisfying manner. I decided to this immediately after a lady at the store asked me how many sodas were in a 12 pack. Unfortunately, I'm not joking about that. I decided right then and there to go into a field where I could incarcerate similar mindsets.

If we all go to wal-mart today and cant figure out how to use it, the (guard) cashier will have to help and they will see it isnt very cost effective and do away with the self check-out because they will actually have to work. great picture by the way.

Funny you say that self checkout lines are becoming more common. Where I live, the only store that has them is Walmart, and I typically try to stay away from that store (I could go on and on about why). The grocery store I go to on a regular basis only has cashiers.

Every time I do go to Walmart, though, my mom usually opts for the self chekcout. However, each time, we are always faced with the same problem. Something doesn't scan properly and the manager has to come and help us out, thus wasting an extra 15 minutes. I would rather just deal with a person.

I am boycotting CVS because of it. With all the unemployment they are making it much worse. But they don't care. They make tons of money. They can't afford to pay a cashier? The CVS's here have no cashiers at all anymore. Ridiculous!

PS My grandfather was a butcher in a store that looked very much like that.

I haven't seen anyone do the discount coupons at the supermarket. I guess you could. The self-checkout is also at Home Depot and my bank. The bank seems to think dumping checks in a box is just as secure as handing them over to a cashier. That, of course is nonsense.

Way too funny, Curtman. Your post cracked me up. I can't stand the self checkout. Every time I use the do it yourself, an item doesn't ring up correctly and I have to wait for someone to enter a special code or stick a key in the machine and reset it. I always have an unauthorized item in the bagging area. Don't buy beer in the self check, everything stops and someone has to come over to see that a 49 year old guy is not some 17 year old kid. One of my favorite jobs was as a 16 year old kid working in a grocery store, bagging groceries for my favorite cashier and eventual girlfriend, Cindy. Can't get that kind of interaction at a self checkout. Ya can't flirt with a scanner.

Your poll this week asks if food prices will rise this year. Well, I work at the local Kroger. Two weeks ago in the weekly managerial meeting the store manager passed on a pronouncement from corporate -- food prices are going to skyrocket.

In my area they've removed the coin-sorter machines that used to provide store-credits for your troubles, so I use the self-checkouts to do that job. It is also a petty vengeance against the fact that there is no place to put anything down except in the "bagging area", and I'm not "bagging" my wallet.

I really appreciate this post. My Nono (Italian Grandfather) was a butcher from the 1950s to 2000. He is still alive and loves to discuss the golden age of his grocery store, when customer and butcher would become true friends. Thanks for the post.

I love shopping at the meat market for my meats. We still have a few very nice ones here in the Portland area. I love the one over by where I used to live. Still srive out that way to buy my meat that from the meat market. Use to have girlfriend who would drive in from the beach once a month to shop with them. Know you by name. Love that.

Yes! Hate those self check out stands. REFUSE to use at ALL! I will wait unti the next coming of out Lord. That is how much I hate them. I have had them try to get me over there to use them and check out an they say they will even help me. Not interested at ALL! Thank you but No thank you. Takes jobs away and so inpersonal. No customer service my biggest gripe. Have a blessed week

I also refuse to use the self-checkout. I was in Home Depot a few weeks ago, found what I wanted, and then discovered there were NO cashiers. I walked back and returned my item to the proper shelf (I do have some class, after all) and then left the store. As I was leaving one of the managers (I suppose) asked me if there was a problem. "Yes, there's no one to take my money.""There are several self-checkouts open."I smiled at him and replied, "That's exactly what I said."

About Me

I grew up in West Texas, and could not wait to get away. I got away, and went to the University of Texas, and then on to Stanford. I saw the world, and decided what I really wanted was to be in West Texas. So here I am, right back where I started. I had it all, and found it was not that great.

I have been an avid collector of old photographs and documents for over 30
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flea markets over the years, and some from government archives of public domain
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